Play Maker(3)

“Peony Pete!” I laughed. “How could I forget? He did not know how to take no for an answer.”

“I know!” Maya giggled. “I know I’m hot, but come on!”

“I would have sent you roses,” I told her.

“That’s because you’re a classy broad.”

“The classiest!” I readily agreed and then sighed. “Why is a good one night stand so hard to find?”

“You’d think it’d be a piece of cake in Los Angeles,” Maya shrugged. “Guess we’re just looking in the wrong place.”

“Not according to my mom,” I told her. My mom was a tabloid junkie and according to them, all the men in Los Angeles were cheating on their wives. I kept trying to tell her that she couldn’t judge the entire population of a city on the actions of a few philandering celebrities, but she was still deeply concerned for my honor. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my honor was long gone. That it took off around the first time that she did. But I was doing my best not to bring that up. We were starting over. She was trying. I was trying. Which meant humoring her, a lot. “My mom is convinced I’m surrounded by manwhores.”

“I wish!” Maya exclaimed. “I thought becoming a bartender would guarantee an endless supply of men with commitment issues.”

“Me too,” I shook my head. “I guess we should have specified the kind of commitment issues we were looking for. Namely, the not-interested-in-it kind.”

“Men,” Maya sighed.

“Seriously,” I lifted my hands. “Where’s a good manwhore when you need one?”



Hours later, after Maya went upstairs with her man-of-the-evening, I went home to where my brother was parked in front of the TV, watching the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas Special.

“Hey, buddy,” I ruffled his hair as I passed by to drop my purse off on the kitchen table.

“Twelve,” he pointed at the screen.

“Oh, is this the first time he shows up?” I asked innocently. I was referring to the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor, who was Mikey’s second favorite. Or at least he had been last week. The list changed on a daily basis.

Mikey turned around and let out an enormous sigh. I bit my lip, trying to hide my smile.

“50th Anniversary Special,” he reminded me, even though I knew. You didn’t live with Mikey and not know the exact moment a new Doctor was introduced, even if it was only for a brief second.

“Want to help me make some cheesy noodles?” It was our little routine. Even though it was almost 2am, I was usually pretty hungry after my shift and sometimes this was the only time I got to have something resembling dinner with my brother.

He nodded and even though he kept one eye at the screen, he came into the kitchen. Cheesy noodles was our version of mac and cheese, with two boxes of noodles and one packet of cheese. Sometimes if I had a good week tip-wise, I could throw in some chopped up hot dogs. Unfortunately, tonight we had to go hot dog-less. But Mikey didn’t seem to notice, his eyes on the screen as I heated a pot of water on the stove.

“What’s the list today?” I asked him. “Any changes?”

He glanced back at me and I noticed there was a hole near the collar of his t-shirt. I made a mental note to snag it from the laundry bin so I could mend it before washing it. It had been a lucky find at Goodwill, with a big picture of the TARDIS on the front, and Mikey loved it.

He was furrowing his brow at me, mentally cataloguing the Doctors. Every night he would list his favorites in order. Though a few of them remained constant, sometimes there was a surprise or two.

“Ten,” he started with, which was not unusual. David Tennent had been the top ranking Doctor for a while now. Mikey had even asked for a version of his coat for Christmas. I knew they sold it online, but I was hoping I could find a pattern and make it myself. Luckily I still had a few months – Mikey liked to get his requests in early. He seemed to understand that this Santa often needed a little time to plan. “Twelve. Four. Eleven. One. Nine. Six. Two. Eight. Three. Five. Seven.”

“One is really moving up the list,” I noted, pouring the noodles into the now boiling water.

“He’s the first,” Mikey explained. “He’s important.”

“That’s true,” I grabbed a wooden spoon. “Want to stir?”

He took it and stirred the pot carefully, while quietly humming the Doctor Who theme song. I hummed it back at him and then incorporated some “bum bum bum”s. Without even missing a beat, he added an enthusiastic “oooo wa wa”. I smiled at the back of his head. We were getting pretty good at it. Things like that kept me from taking my day too seriously. What would I do without him?

“Looks like I’m going to have a day off next week,” I told him. “Want to go to the movies?”

“Mmm.” He was now focused completely on the pot of noodles.

“It’s that zombie one.” I tried to remember the name. “26 Days?”

“28 Days,” Mikey corrected. “Nine. Ok.”

Nine meant that the actor playing the ninth doctor was in it. And even though Nine was only ranked #6, I was glad he was interested in going to the movie.

I pulled out my phone and looked up the schedule for our local, cheapo movie theater. They didn’t play any new releases, instead doing themed months with older movies. Zombies were this month’s theme. I liked it because I could get him popcorn and a soda for only $5.